Well goodbye Cairns , Hello Red Centre

[DarWen]

Congratulations Mark and Penny, you can light up the Red centre with lightbars. Best wishes on your new adventure. Darren & Wendy.

[Bird]

bit different selling 4 bedroom 3 bathroom 4 car garage to selling a corrugated iron humpy with dirt floors ?

[The Caseys]

Mark, Penny & Bisket,

Congrats and best of luck.  We will have to put you on the itinerary  when we do the big lap in a year or so.

Tina & David

P.S. Can I have first dibs on the Ice Making machine

[McGirr]

Yes, of course you will Mark. It should be a great base for some research 

......and it's Ayers Rock (named in 1873 in honor of the Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers), or more correctly now, Uluru.....

The community you'll be living and working in........is it dry? 

Yes a dry community 

Mark

[duggie]

Yes a dry community 

Mark

Never mind Mark, every time we have a get - together somewhere in Australia, all of the Myswaggers will have several drinks for you.  All the best for you and Penny in your new career .

cheers and beers , duggie

[HEM19X]

One small step for man... One giant leap for Mark & Penny... hope you guys have a great time... I am sure you will be missed from all the Cape trips.

Regards

Hem

[Chris J]

This is so unfair, no consultation with the northerners, who's going to lead us on our next adventure. I hope arrangements for a new Russell Coight have been made.

See You and Penny in the middle some time soon!

Chris and Janice

[Jeepers Creepers]

Good on ya, i'm coming to Cairns in March and you're running away...... chicken.

[Cozzie]

Good onya Mark, we have very good friends that work at a community on the SA/NT border.....they love it.

[RallyDog]

Good one Mark all the best we spent three years in a remote community up near fitzroy crossin in the Kimberly on the border of the sandy desert and  loved it the wife was a teacher and I got a job as a project officer learnt a lot of the people out there its something you will never forget.
Dicko

[gclan]

Congrats on the big move! What a fantastic opportunity

All the best.

Cheers
Karen

[McGirr]

Update

2 weeks notice given to work and rental agency


The cruiser has had a make over.

So far

New OME shocks

Extractors and a 3in exhaust system courtesy of my brother  sending me one about 18months ago.

A complete service

Goes in tomorrow for a new sound system and UHF radio to replace the original system plus a bigger roof basket.

Purchased 6 months worth of toiletries, medications, etc

Purchased new clothing for cold weather

Cleaners booked to do the unit

Sold my lancer and that gets picked up tomorrow. Made sure they pay in cash.

Ergon booked for last meter read


Things to do

Have a garage sale Sat

Dispose of things that I don't need

Start arranging the cruiser and camper over the Australia Day weekend

So far everything is on track.

We should end up living in a close to empty unit for a week with 2 deck chairs , camping fridges and a Queen mattress on the floor. Yes the ice maker is coming with me 

Hoping to be on the road Sat week.

Mark

[xcvator]

We should end up living in a close to empty unit for a week with 2 deck chairs , camping fridges and a Queen mattress on the floor. Yes the ice maker is coming with me 

Mark

Sounds a bit like camping Mark 

[Nomad]

Thats a big lifestyle change mate. Hope you have a great time. So what kind of work will you be doing?

Cheers Nomad 

[McGirr]

Thats a big lifestyle change mate. Hope you have a great time. So what kind of work will you be doing?

Cheers Nomad 

Managing a small food shop in a remote area.

Mark

[GGV8Cruza]

I think that this is one big excuse to upgrade the cruiser, next thing you know you will have a new trailer attached to the rear 

GG

[McGirr]

I think that this is one big excuse to upgrade the cruiser, next thing you know you will have a new trailer attached to the rear 

GG

It will depend if I run the myswag raffle this time. 

Mark

[briann532]

Best wishes on your move.

You are living. Enjoy it to the fullest.

Can't wait to hear your reports.

Cheers
Brian

[Redcherokee]

Managing a small food shop in a remote area.

Mark

I am sure the pair of you will do an excellent job. 

Hoping you enjoy this big adventure. (soft drink, of course ).

[Nomad]

Mark can sell ice to eskimos................he'll have that shop at record sales levels in no time.

[edz]

Dont realy know if the place your going to does take away food, If it does you might need to get used to flipping hamburgers ..  O'l mate of mine reckoned the comunity he and his wife worked in, he was making an average of 200 burgers a day ..
Not sure if he was pulling my leg on that one though .. sounds feasable though .

[yogi]

You sure 12 months will be long enough to dry out

All the best and look forward to catching up again soon 

yogi

[barraboy]

All the best to Penny and you in your new job Mark. Hope it all goes well and you will be missed in the Far North.

Regards
Martin

[McGirr]

We left Cairns on Sat and arrived in Alice Springs yesterday afternoon.

The trip so far has been great with perfect weather. Not much traffic on the roads as expected and the country side is nice and green.

The car and camper have gone perfectly with no issues.

First days drive was Cairns to Hughenden. We stayed at the local caravan park. The next day the plan was to stay at Camooweal but we decided to push on to Barkely Homestead where we arrived at 6.30pm NT time. We booked a cabin and had a great meal.

Day 3 and we were ahead of schedule so we left Barkly Homestead to make Alice Springs that afternoon. There are some interesting places along the way with one place that stood out. We stopped at Barrow Creek as Penny needed to use the rest room. It was run down and strange looking. I said to Penny that it has that eerie Wolf Creek feeling and if you don't come out in 10 min I am leaving. Record timing for a rest stop but it is a quirky place with a bar.

We continued on and with a little head wind I started to notice the fuel level dropping. 90klm to Alice Springs and a qtr tank of fuel left. But we managed to arrive in Alice and dropped the dog off at the boarding kennel and booked into Lassiters Casino for a night at only $99. Great place and great meals.

Today we head to Erldunda and then on Wed we travel to our remote work place. The scenery has been great and we get excited if there is a bend in the road.

More to come.

Mark

[Bird]

the car looks too clean...